SPS Receeding From Base to Tips

LegitFish · Jan 27, 2014

Ok, so I am not too new to the reef community (about 6 years) but it seems like the more you know, the less you actually know. So I have been having a recent problem with my acros receding from the base up. It appears like the skin just starts peeling off from the base over a few days-weeks time until the whole colony is completely gone. My levels seem to all be in check-Ca 420-440, Alk 8-9, and Mg at around 1350-1400 and pH at around 8.2-8.3. I am using a dosing pump, so everything is pretty steady (no major swings like I was having with the Ca reactor I used to have a couple months ago). My lighting is (3) 120watt Cad lights LED, and it is a 120 gallon tank. Temp is constantly 76-77 (heater and chiller). Any suggestions?

RalphsReef · Jan 27, 2014

If your numbers are stable, I would suggest that maybe the base is too shaded. You are losing tissue from it being shaded, and the tissue loss is turning into RTN. Which is a bit of a stretch, but it's a possibility. I would have said it was an alk swing until you mentioned your parameters are stable. What kind of flow are they getting?

LegitFish · Jan 27, 2014

I have 2 mp40s. Flow is not a problem. The bases of the frags are getting plenty of light, along with some of the larger colonies I have had for a while. This happened once before, and it eventually stopped, only to return months later. I was thinking some type of coral disease? All the fish seem well

LegitFish · Jan 27, 2014

You can see it in these photos

Clearwater · Jan 28, 2014

Salinity?

LegitFish · Jan 28, 2014

1.024-1.025

LegitFish · Jan 28, 2014

0-1 nitrate and 0 phosphate

Sobo's Reef · Jan 28, 2014

Mine have been doing the same thing but I recently went thru an alk crash so that's the reasoning behind mine. It stinks for sure

StikHedRon · Jan 28, 2014

I would check for Red Bugs or AEFW. Also you said that you had unstable conditions with the Cal reactor. This could be the problem.. How bad was the instability. Sometimes issues show up down the road.

LegitFish · Jan 28, 2014

The alk and ph weren't very stable. It was when I changed to the bubble Magnus dosing pump everything stabilized about 2 months ago. It's weird tho...even new aquaculture pieces I've put in are doing the same (the pink milli pictured above)

StikHedRon · Jan 28, 2014

Ok, so from the pictures you posted. Looks like the acros are on your rockwork. If you did not properly light acclimate them they could STN or RTN. I leave all my acros on my sand bed for about 2 weeks or more before I even consider moving them up, then I place them on my frag rack and slowly move them up until they are at the par reading they will sit at. This could be the problem.

StikHedRon · Jan 28, 2014

You can save these also, frag off some of the healthy pieces if you have to and see what happens.

LegitFish · Jan 28, 2014

The pink milli was under 400w MH prior to coming into my tank, and the blue stag has been in the same place for over a year...

StikHedRon · Jan 28, 2014

that stag looks like it started stn'n in the middle of that branch. thats weird, is it really doing that? got anything close by that can sting it? I'm leaning towards the switch from halides to leds got. your mille.

LegitFish · Jan 28, 2014

There is nothing around it that could sting.

mcarroll · Jan 29, 2014

You have to trace it back to the change (or changes) that have happened....clearly as you say and the pictures show, they were all happy before that.

Dosing
Switching from a Ca reactor changed the daily average of pH.....one possible contributor to the problem as corals were well-adapted to how it was before.

Lighting
Are the lights or the current settings a change? Frags seem to adjust to LED lighting with minimal issues, but colonies seem a lot more resistant to change and don't handle it nearly as well.

Flow
What are the dimensions of your 120? I've seen plenty of tanks where two MP40's was utterly inadequate. This could be due to the pump-stlye, rock layout or other issues...but two MP40's are definitely not a free ticket to "great flow". (They aren't even a guaranteed $900 ticket to "great flow".) Are they new or have the corals been accustomed to this flow and have all affected corals been in their current locations the whole time? Changes in flow can be just as disastrous to some corals as changes in light or an alkalinity crash.

Temperature
I would also try increasing the temperature of the tank....average daily water temp where most of your corals are from is about 82ÂºF....with a max around 86ÂºF. In the halide days when heat management was an issue, I ran the tank at 82.3ÂºF 24/7 and the corals loved it and grew like weeds. I keep it a tick below 80ÂºF these days, just because I can (LEDs!). Technically you aren't out of the range corals can handle in general, but they are cold-blooded and a reduced metabolism is a natural side-effect of of reduced temp....it's possible this is hampering the corals in some way. If they are trying to recover or fight something off, a higher metabolism will be a big help!

Maintenance
Also how is your water change schedule? If you are slacking and doing less than weekly changes, try goosing that up to weekly (at least 10%) or even daily water changes (at least 5%) for a while and see if things turn around.

Any other changes you can think of that have happened since around the time the problem very first started?

-Matt

LegitFish · Jan 29, 2014

Dimensions-4'Lx2'Wx2'T Lighting-Never changed. Has been the same for years. Temperature-I used to run it around 79-80, but that was when the first problem arose. I lowered it to the current temp, because everything else I did wasn't working, and I got this idea from a coworker that if it was some type of virus the coral had, it wouldn't survive in this temp (it seemed to work, and the tank slowly got out of its funk, until now.) Maintenance-I do bi-weekly water changes of 35-40 gallons. Have been doing that forever, and seems to have been working...The only think I can figure is the dosing pump change...could the side effects come about months later?

mcarroll · Jan 30, 2014

Maintenance
I would seriously give the water change a day thing a try if you can....shoot for 5%.....10% if it's easy enough, but frequency - not quantity - is the main idea. This will give your tank and corals a very needed (and most importantly, very regular) shot of vitamins and the other more fungible benefits of fresh-mixed artificial seawater.

Flow
In theory two mp40's should be pretty decent in a "little" four foot tank, but....

When your corals grow in this much, it slowly but surely changes the character of the tank drastically in terms of flow and lighting. Between flow and lighting, there's probably more impact on flow. Open spaces get filled in with coral growth, creating more and more turbulence (which is the opposite of flow). If your flow setup hasn't changed in a long period of time, then I'd reconsider inadequate flow as a possible cause. The symptoms do match pretty well with the pics.

Temperature
I would definitely change the temperature back to what the corals probably consider more normal - 80ÂºF or even a smidgen higher.

Months Later?
Well, consider it this way: The signs you are seeing are signs of stress. How does stress appear on us humans - right away or usually later? Sometimes years later. It's not entirely different for corals. All the stresses add up - changes in maintenance, perhaps decreasing flow rates, et al. - and it's pretty hard to predict when you will see a tipping point.

Consider that a 10% water change means a heck of a lot more to a few little stony frags than it does to a cluster of monster colonies. Even this "decreasing contribution" is a stress. Demands of the tank increase proportionately with coral size. Anything you can think of that's still set up like way in the past is worthy of some scrutiny for improvement. More flow, more water changes, better spread of light, etc, etc....

BTW, can you post a full tank shot? Curious how your rock+coral layout is vs pump placement.

-Matt